2015 Australian Formula 3 Championship

The 2015 Australian Formula 3 Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for cars constructed in accordance with FIA Formula 3 regulations.[1] It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) as a national championship, with Formula 3 Management Pty Ltd appointed as the Category Manager.[1] The Championship began on 27 March at Sandown Raceway and ended on 18 October at Wakefield Park after seven rounds across three states.[2] The title, which was the 15th Australian Formula 3 Championship, was won by Gilmour Racing's Jon Collins by 1 point over Ricky Capo after both were excluded from the final race of the year.

CAMS removed the Gold Star award from the Australian Formula 3 Championship for 2015.[3] The move ended a 58-year tradition, the award being the third oldest continually awarded CAMS title after the Australian Grand Prix and Australian Hillclimb Championship.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the 2015 Australian Formula 3 Championship. All teams and drivers were Australian-registered.

Team Chassis Engine No. Driver Class Rounds
Bob Johns Racing/Gilmour Racing Dallara F311 Volkswagen 3 Chris Gilmour C 5
R-Tek Motorsport Dallara F311 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 8 Roland Legge C 4-7
Dallara F307 6 1
Dennie Rumble N 2,4
Roman Krumins N 5
Spiess-Opel 7 Nathan Kumar N All
Dallara F304 9 Andrew Roberts K 1
Keegan Brain K 5
Wiltec Industries Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel 13 Shane Wilson K 4-5,7
Trent Shirvington Mygale M11 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 14 Trent Shirvington C All
Gilmour Racing Dallara F311 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 17 Jon Collins C All
Dallara F307 23 Luke Spalding N 1-5
Harvest Motorsport Mygale M11 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 46 Shane Ryding C 1-3,5,7
Ross McAlpine Dallara F304 Renault-Sodemo 81 Ross McAlpine K 4,7
Ellery Motorsport Enterprises Dallara F311 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 83 Luke Ellery C 4
Alpine Motorsport Dallara F307 HWA-Mercedes-Benz 88 Tim Macrow C 6
Dennie Rumble N 7
Paul Scott Dallara F304 Renault-Sodemo 89 Paul Scott K 5
N 6
Wlodek Racing Dallara F307 Mugen-Honda 91 Andrew Wlodek N 4,7
Ricky Capo Racing Dallara F311 Mugen-Honda 92 Ricky Capo C All
Icon Class
C Championship
N National Class
K Kumho Class

Classes

Competing cars were nominated into one of four classes:[1]

  • Australian Formula 3 Championship – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2011.[1]
  • National Class – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2007.[1]
  • Kumho Cup Class – for automobiles constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied in the year of manufacture between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2004.[1]
  • Invitational Class.[1]

Points system

Championship points were awarded in each class as follows:[1]

  • One point to the driver placed in the highest grid position in each class for the first race at each round.[1]
  • 12–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the first ten finishing positions in each class in each of the first two races at each round.[1]
  • 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first ten finishing positions in each class in the third race at each round and in the fourth race at the Wakfield Park round.[1]
  • One point to the driver that achieved the fastest lap time in each class in each race of the championship.[1]

Race calendar

Jon Collins & Ricky Capo at Winton in 2015
Jon Collins won the championship driving a Dallara F311 (2011/Latest Spec Chassis) Mercedes-Benz
Ricky Capo placed second driving a Dallara F311 (2011/Latest Spec Chassis) Mugen-Honda

The Championship was contested over a seven-round series.[2] All races were held in Australia.

Round[2] Circuit Date Format Championship Class
winner 		National Class
winner 		Kumho Cup
winner
1 Sandown Raceway 27–29 March Three races Ricky Capo Luke Spalding Andrew Roberts
2 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit 22–24 May Three races Jon Collins Luke Spalding not present
3 Winton Motor Raceway 12–14 June Three races Jon Collins Luke Spalding not present
4 Sydney Motorsport Park 3–5 July Three races Jon Collins Luke Spalding Shane Wilson
5 Queensland Raceway 7–9 August Three races Jon Collins Luke Spalding Paul Scott
6 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit 18–20 September Three races Tim Macrow Paul Scott not present
7 Wakefield Park 16–18 October Four races Trent Shirvington Andrew Wlodek Ross McAlpine

Note:

  • Mount Panorama was removed from the calendar after being included for the last three years.
  • Hidden Valley was removed from the calendar after being included for the last four years
  • The results for each round of the Championship were determined by the results of the final race of the round.[1]
  • The Kumho Cup was contested only at Rounds 1,4,5 and 7.[1]

Championship Standings

  Championship Class      
Position Driver[4] Car.[5] Competitor / Team[5] Points[4]
1 Jon Collins Dallara F311 Mercedes-Benz Gilmour Racing 257
2 Ricky Capo[6] Dallara F311 Mugen-Honda Modena Engineering 256
3 Trent Shirvington Mygale M11 Mercedes-Benz Trent Shirvington 163
4 Roland Legge Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz
Dallara F311 Mercedes-Benz 		R-Tek Motorsport 135
5 Shane Ryding Mygale M11 Mercedes-Benz Harvest Motorsport 97
6 Tim Macrow Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz Alpine Motorsport 48
7 Chris Gilmour Dallara F311 Volkswagen Bobby Johns Racing/Gilmour Racing 24
8 Luke Ellery Dallara F311 Mercedes-Benz Ellery Motorsport Enterprises 18
  National Class      
Position Driver Car Competitor / Team Points
1 Luke Spalding Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz Gilmour Racing 231
2 Nathan Kumar Dallara F307 Spiess-Opel R-Tek Motorsport 115
3 Dennie Rumble Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz R-Tek Motorsport 100
4 Andrew Wlodek Dallara F307 Mugen-Honda Wlodek Racing 62
5 Paul Scott Dallara F304 Renault-Sodemo Paul Scott 38
6 Roman Krumins Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz R-Tek Motorsport 36
  Kumho Cup      
Position Driver[7] Car Competitor / Team Points
1 Shane Wilson Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel Wiltec Industries 127
2 Ross McAlpine Dallara F304 Renault-Sodemo Ross McAlpine 89
3 Andrew Roberts Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel R-Tek Motorsport 48
Paul Scott Dallara F304 Renault-Sodemo Paul Scott 48
5 Keegan Brain Dallara F304 Spiess-Opel R-Tek Motorsport 20

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 2015 CAMS Australian Formula 3 Championship Sporting and Technical Regulations, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  2. ^ a b c 2015 Championship Schedule, www.formula3.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  3. ^ CAMS parks Gold Star as F3 fields dwindle, www.speedcafe.com, as archived at web.archive.org
  4. ^ a b Latest Results, 2015 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship, www.formula3.com.au Archived 10 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b Natsoft Race Results, racing.natsoft.com.au
  6. ^ Tom Howard, Friday 11 November 2016, Appeal dismissal hands Collins 2015 Aus F3 title, www.speedcafe.com Retrieved 11 November 2016
  7. ^ Kumho Cup standings were not included in the championship results as published at "The official website of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship Series :: Welcome". Archived from the original on 10 January 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2013.